Thistle
by DaughteroftheOneTrueKing
Summary: Sirius is surprised when he makes a late night discovery


**Hello once again! This is Round 4 of QLFC, where I'm still the Captain! This is a fun round, all about pets. Captains had the prompt to write about a stoic character who uses baby talk towards their pet. I hope this is a good story, please leave reviews below and like this as well.**

 **Word Count: 1048**

Sirius Black never considered himself a sentimentalist. In fact, he usually prided himself for being the total opposite. His reputation as a class clown, along with James, was one he reveled in most of the time. He was stoic in the face of adversity, and unbending in what he wanted.

"Remus, there's no point in trying to stop us from doing this." Once again, James and Remus were arguing about them trying to become Animagi. It waa a tired argument, and one that Sirius partially worried about, but would never admit it to his friends. "We're doing this so we can help you and keep you company. Enough trying to argue it."

Remus shook his head and plopped himself down in a chair by the fireplace. The Gryffindor Common Room was very empty this late in the evening, only a couple people buried in their homework in preparation for end of year exams.

"Guys, stop it." Peter tried to calm them. He was usually the mediator whenever any of them had any argument. "This isn't helping us at all."

Sirius groaned as he sat down on the floor. "What we need to do is figure out what our Animagi will be once we transform."

"We can't ask McGonagall," James stated, something that they had established since they had first started planning to become Animagi. "Maybe we can find something in the library? That's where we found the incantation to transform. Maybe there's another book in there that will help us find out what our forms will be beforehand?"

"We'll have to wait til next year, term ends next week," Remus smiled at the prospect of finding out more information.

"You are such a nerd, Moony," Sirius smirked. "Only you out of us all would be excited about going to the library."

"So what?" Remus said defensively. "I like learning things, makes me feel normal."

"Enough of that," James' voice cut through their bickering. He never tolerated anyone teasing Remus, not even Sirius. Quickly changing the subject, he continued, "You're all coming to the Manor in July, yes?"

They all nodded in agreement. They always went to James' house for a few weeks in the summer, a time for them to be crazy and have some fun.

Sirius looked at his watch, seeing that it was quite late. "I'm going to take a walk by the lake. Be back in a bit." He stood up and walked out of the portrait, letting it close firmly behind him.

* * *

Walking along the edge of the lake, Sirius took in the cool night air. He often liked to take late night walks, observing the sleeping world as many didn't get to see. The night was comforting, almost as if they were one in their contemplation.

It was silent except for the lowly crashing waves, and so it was a big surprise to hear a whimpering noise from the bushes nearby.

Sirius listened closely, attempting to pinpoint where the pitiful sound was coming from. Following the noise to a patch of thistles, he moved around the bushes to find a small tortoiseshell kitten staring up at him and mewling pitifully.

"Oh, what happened to bring you here?" Sirius whispered, picking up the miniscule kitten and cradling her against his chest. "Oh, you must be so cold. Where is your mother?"

Of course the kitten couldn't answer him, but her intelligent eyes seemed to tell him everything he needed to know. Sirius wrapped her up in his sweater, rubbing the fabric to make it warmer and bring the kitten's body temperature up. The kitten seemed to be quite upset at this, wriggling and trying to scratch his hand in protest. "What do you want from me? I'm trying to help you you dumb kitten. Calm down."

This only made the kitten struggle even more, and she started to let out a few distressed screams. Frustrated, Sirius tried to loosen the jacket around the kitten, but that didn't help either. He cursed under his breath, trying to figure out what to to help the upset kitten.

He had heard of baby talk, although his own mother had most definitely never done that with him, but he decieed to try it. "Okay, sweet wittle kitten, what do you want fwom me? I'm twying to hewp you, but you awen't wetting me."

The kitten looked at him in surprise and stopped her whining and wriggling, almost as if she knew talking like that was something he would never do unless it seemed necessary. Her dark eyes blinked at him and she calmly started to purr. Sirius breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the little kitten started to snuggle down, kneading into the jacket as she closed her eyes, breathing slowly as she fell asleep.

Sirius sat down, staring in relief at his new little pet kitten. It was a surprising feeling, almost what he would have thought fatherhood should be like.

After sitting by the lake for a few minutes, Sirius started to head into the castle to go to bed himself. Arriving in the common room, he saw that James, Remus, and Peter had already headed up to the bedrooms. He hurried into the dorm, placing the bundle of kitten on his bed and dressing in his pajamas. James stared at the bundle with curiosity, and Peter walked over to investigate.

"What is that, Sirius?" Peter questioned.

"I found a kitten while I was out," Sirius said. "She was in the bushes. I'm going to keep her."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "I never thought I'd see the day when Sirius Black would adopt a kitten."

"Stop it, Moony." Sirius gave him a severe look. "This is my kitten, and I won't let anyone bother her."

"What are you going to name her?" James asked. Sirius picked the kitten up from it's bundle and showed the other boys. She blinked from being woken, stretching and kneading Sirius' arm contentedly.

Sirius thought about the question. After all, it was a big decision to make. Finally, he came up with an answer. "Thistle. That's the bush I found her next to, it makes sense."

Laughing, James raised his wand in celebration of Sirius' new pet, and the others followed suit.

"To Thistle!"


End file.
